Hempnall FC

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Sometimes in football you don’t get what you deserve in football but this was not the case for this game.

We had gotten ourselves into a winning position having started well and engineered two well taken goals. The first a delicate header from Tom Halliwell as the ball came through a ruck of players for him to nudge home. The second a far post header from Iain Mills after good work from Sam Wenham down the left.

However we then made the cardinal sin of switching off, what’s the old saying ‘you are at your most vulnerable when you have just scored’, how true that was as Loddon pulled a goal back almost immediately, with players in all 3 of our outfield departments making basic errors.

A good young and mobile Loddon side doesn’t need any encouragement and soon they were back even as they again cut through the heart of our side far to easily.

The game swung from one end to the other with chances being created but no further goals arrived in the first half.

Strong words were used at half-time having felt we had won the game once we now needed to start again. A higher work rate and greater competitive edge was asked for.

This arrived and helped generate the next key moment in the game, a competitive tackle from Greg Devlin was taken exception to by Loddon's Alex Brown, who raised his arms and immediately, a red card was brandished by the referee.

This should have signalled our opportunity to take charge of the game but we lost ourselves in a midfield battle, as Loddon showed they were not about to roll over because they were down to 10 men.

With 20 or so minutes to go, substitutes Hunter and Downs entered the arena and started to bring composure to our game, with better possession of the ball the result.

We finally looked like we may be able to get the all important third but with the clock ticking it appeared to have eluded us.

However, a good run by Downs into the box in the last 5 minutes resulted in a soft penalty being awarded. Unfortunately, Rob Browne screwed the spot kick wide, which probably Loddon felt was justice done!

So, 2 points dropped but I believe there is still many a twists & turn in this championship race with 5 or 6 sides still competing.

Tom Halliwell secured the man of the match award as he continues his road back to full match fitness.